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Text
Harry the tailor
English source:
Folksong
When Harry the tailor was twenty years old,
He ’gan for to look with a courage so bold.
Tu-re-lu-tu-re-lay.
He told his old mother he was not in jest,
But he could have a wife just as well as the rest.
Tu-re-lu-fol-de-rol-fol-de-liddle-laddi-lay.
Then Harry next morning before it was day,
To the house of a fair maid he boldly took his way.
Tu-re-lu-tu-re-lay.
He found his dear Dolly a-making a cheese,
Says he: ‘You must give me a kiss if you please.’
Tu-re-lu-fol-de-rol-fol-de-liddle-laddi-lay.
She up with the bowl and the buttermilk flew,
And Harry the tailor looked wonderful blue.
Tu-re-lu-tu-re-lay.
‘O Dolly my dearest, O what hast thou done?
From the back to my heels has the buttermilk run?’
Tu-re-lu-fol-de-rol-fol-de-liddle-laddi-lay.
She gave him a push, and he stumbled and fell
Right down to the dairy into the draw well.
Tu-re-lu-tu-re-lay.
Then Harry the plough-boy he ran up amain,
And soon brought him up in a bucket again.
Tu-re-lu-fol-de-rol-fol-de-liddle-laddi-lay.
The tailor went home all like a drowned rat,
And told his old mother what he had been at.
Tu-re-lu-tu-re-lay.
With buttermilk, bowl and a terrible fall,
‘O, if this be called love may the devil take all.’
Tu-re-lu-fol-de-rol-fol-de-liddle-laddi-lay.
He ’gan for to look with a courage so bold.
Tu-re-lu-tu-re-lay.
He told his old mother he was not in jest,
But he could have a wife just as well as the rest.
Tu-re-lu-fol-de-rol-fol-de-liddle-laddi-lay.
Then Harry next morning before it was day,
To the house of a fair maid he boldly took his way.
Tu-re-lu-tu-re-lay.
He found his dear Dolly a-making a cheese,
Says he: ‘You must give me a kiss if you please.’
Tu-re-lu-fol-de-rol-fol-de-liddle-laddi-lay.
She up with the bowl and the buttermilk flew,
And Harry the tailor looked wonderful blue.
Tu-re-lu-tu-re-lay.
‘O Dolly my dearest, O what hast thou done?
From the back to my heels has the buttermilk run?’
Tu-re-lu-fol-de-rol-fol-de-liddle-laddi-lay.
She gave him a push, and he stumbled and fell
Right down to the dairy into the draw well.
Tu-re-lu-tu-re-lay.
Then Harry the plough-boy he ran up amain,
And soon brought him up in a bucket again.
Tu-re-lu-fol-de-rol-fol-de-liddle-laddi-lay.
The tailor went home all like a drowned rat,
And told his old mother what he had been at.
Tu-re-lu-tu-re-lay.
With buttermilk, bowl and a terrible fall,
‘O, if this be called love may the devil take all.’
Tu-re-lu-fol-de-rol-fol-de-liddle-laddi-lay.
Composer
Ralph Vaughan Williams
Ralph Vaughan Williams was an English composer. Over sixty years, he composed operas, ballets, chamber music, vocal pieces and orchestral compositions. He was strongly influenced by Tudor music and English folk-song. Information from Wikipedia.…
